Matt Ritchie's first international goal for Scotland was enough to give the team a 1-0 win over Qatar in a friendly at Easter Road this evening.

The hosts could have opened the scoring just a couple of minutes after kickoff after Craig Forsyth played the ball through to James Forrest, but the midfielder's strike was blocked.

Karim Boudiaf, who scored in Qatar's last match against Northern Ireland, had a chance inside the opening 10 minutes for the visitors when he lined up a long-range free kick, but David Marshall watched it all the way to make the save.

Gordon Strachan's side continued to apply the pressure throughout the first half, but Amine Lecomte pulled off saves to deny Steven Naismith twice, while Charlie Mulgrew and Ikechi Anya both missed the target.

Scotland were ahead just before the interval though as Naismith picked out Ritchie with a through-ball, setting the Bournemouth winger up for his first international goal as he fired a low finish into the bottom left corner.

Ritchie tried to repay the favour at the start of the second half as he delivered a corner to the unmarked Naismith, but the Everton forward's header went wide.

The home side thought that they should have had a free kick a few minutes later after Naismith was brought down by Abdelkarim Hasan in the box, but the referee waved away the Scottish shouts for a penalty.

Naismith continued to find himself in promising positions as Scotland pushed for a second goal, but he volleyed wide just before the hour mark.

Johnny Russell could have put the win beyond doubt after coming off the bench for the hosts when he tried a volley from a Ritchie cross from inside the six-yard box, but Amine made the stop.

Charlie Adam tried to set up Mulgrew for a header in the final five minutes, but he could only head wide, while Leigh Griffiths had the ball in the back of the net in stoppage time, but it was ruled out for offside.